News
National Journal | Progressives Flunking Income Inequality Test
For progressives, the buzzy phrase of the moment is income inequality. President Obama plans to make it the focus of his upcoming State of the Union address after sermonizing about the issue in December. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made it the centerpiece of his campaign and the theme of his inauguration ceremony. Freshman Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren gained national celebrity because of her outspoken criticism of moneyed interests.
Market Watch | U.S. home prices edge up in November: CoreLogic
U.S. home prices edged up in November, CoreLogic said Tuesday. Prices rose 0.1% on a monthly basis to take year-on-year gains to 11.8%, the 21st straight month of year-over-year gains.
CNN Money | The push to export U.S. oil
A new battle is taking shape over the U.S. energy boom. Thanks largely to the fracking revolution, the United States is now in a position to export crude oil. But should it?
Bloomberg | Trade Gap Shrinks to Four-Year Low as U.S. Oil Imports Drop
The trade deficit in the U.S. shrank more than forecast in November as oil imports dropped to the lowest level in three years and exports climbed to a record.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | More College Does Not Beget More Economic Prosperity
In his first address to Congress President Obama argued that the U.S. needs to put far more people through college so that our economy will remain competitive with those of other nations. He set forth a goal of again having “the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”
Real Clear Markets | The Facts About Income Inequality May Surprise You
Last month the Congressional Budget Office published new estimates of the distribution of federal tax burdens. CBO analysts assembled updated information on Americans' incomes to calculate household tax burdens between 1979 and 2010. They also predicted 2013 tax burdens based on projections of income combined with a careful reading of current tax law.
AEI | Stepping up for free trade in the US
In the modern era, US Republicans have espoused free trade — and FTAs — as an extension of their domestic goals to foster vigorous market competition and limit government intervention on behalf of favoured protectionist interests.
Blogs
WSJ | Parents, Kids Don’t Share Economic Values
He might have his mother’s eyes, or her ears, or her sense of humor. But that doesn’t mean he’ll inherit her financial instincts.
Economist | American exceptionalism
In this week’s print edition, we show that economists are besotted with America. From 1985 to 2005 over 35,000 economics papers focused on America; fewer than 20,000 focused on Europe and Central Asia combined. There were fewer than 1,000 papers that dealt with countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Library of Economics | Summers believes we can reduce bubbles with big budget deficits.
Since the start of this century, annual growth in U.S. gross domestic product has averaged less than 1.8 percent. The economy is now operating nearly 10 percent, or more than $1.6 trillion, below what the Congressional Budget Office judged to be its potential path as recently as 2007.
Independent Institute | Two Minimum Wage Fallacies
Generally, a binding minimum wage law will reduce the employment of the lowest-skilled workers. However, two economic fallacies that cloud the issue are prevalent, one among opponents of the minimum wage, and one among proponents.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Health Care
News
CNN Money | Health care spending growth still very low
Spending on health care grew by only 3.7% in 2012, continuing a streak of the slowest growth rates on record, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Millionaires on Medicaid
Expanding Medicaid coverage to an estimated nine million more Americans—as mandated by the Affordable Care Act—reinforces the idea that Medicaid only serves the poor. That perception is not accurate. And it distracts from a looming budgetary threat to the program: long-term care.
National Journal | The Recession, Not Obamacare, Is Slowing Health Spending
Health care spending increased 3.7 percent in 2012 to $2.8 trillion, according to an analysis released Monday by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, marking the fourth consecutive year of the slowest rates recorded in the 53-year history of the National Health Expenditure Accounts.
NBER | The Effect of U.S. Health Insurance Expansions on Medical Innovation
I study the channels through which health insurance influences medical innovation. Following Medicare and Medicaid's passage, I find that U.S.-based medical-equipment patenting rose by 40 to 50 percent relative to both other U.S. patenting and foreign medical-equipment patenting.
CNN Money | Health care spending growth still very low
Spending on health care grew by only 3.7% in 2012, continuing a streak of the slowest growth rates on record, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Millionaires on Medicaid
Expanding Medicaid coverage to an estimated nine million more Americans—as mandated by the Affordable Care Act—reinforces the idea that Medicaid only serves the poor. That perception is not accurate. And it distracts from a looming budgetary threat to the program: long-term care.
National Journal | The Recession, Not Obamacare, Is Slowing Health Spending
Health care spending increased 3.7 percent in 2012 to $2.8 trillion, according to an analysis released Monday by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, marking the fourth consecutive year of the slowest rates recorded in the 53-year history of the National Health Expenditure Accounts.
NBER | The Effect of U.S. Health Insurance Expansions on Medical Innovation
I study the channels through which health insurance influences medical innovation. Following Medicare and Medicaid's passage, I find that U.S.-based medical-equipment patenting rose by 40 to 50 percent relative to both other U.S. patenting and foreign medical-equipment patenting.
Monetary
News
CNN Money | Here comes the end of QE
Now that the once-dreaded taper is on the calendar, Wall Street experts say that investors should begin preparing for the end of the Federal Reserve's bond buying program.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Inflation Slows to 0.8% as Economy Strains to Grow
Euro-area inflation slowed in December, retreating farther from the European Central Bank’s ceiling as the 18-nation currency bloc struggled to strengthen its recovery from a record-long recession.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | Regulators cave quickly in first Volcker Rule battle
Later this week, regulators are expected to finalize a rule that will allow banks to continue to hold a complicated, risky structured bond that was set to be banned by the Volcker Rule.
Market Watch | Fed should taper only gradually: Rosengren
The Federal Reserve should only wind down its bond-buying program very gradually, said Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, on Tuesday.
FOX Business | The Fed’s Miracle-Gro Policy
These are just some of the comments coming out of Wall Street as Janet Yellen replaces Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s historic amount of money printing to buy U.S. debt and mortgage-backed securities is a serious issue as its balance sheet has surpassed $4 trillion.
CNN Money | Here comes the end of QE
Now that the once-dreaded taper is on the calendar, Wall Street experts say that investors should begin preparing for the end of the Federal Reserve's bond buying program.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Inflation Slows to 0.8% as Economy Strains to Grow
Euro-area inflation slowed in December, retreating farther from the European Central Bank’s ceiling as the 18-nation currency bloc struggled to strengthen its recovery from a record-long recession.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | Regulators cave quickly in first Volcker Rule battle
Later this week, regulators are expected to finalize a rule that will allow banks to continue to hold a complicated, risky structured bond that was set to be banned by the Volcker Rule.
Market Watch | Fed should taper only gradually: Rosengren
The Federal Reserve should only wind down its bond-buying program very gradually, said Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, on Tuesday.
FOX Business | The Fed’s Miracle-Gro Policy
These are just some of the comments coming out of Wall Street as Janet Yellen replaces Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s historic amount of money printing to buy U.S. debt and mortgage-backed securities is a serious issue as its balance sheet has surpassed $4 trillion.
Taxes
News
WSJ | Cuomo proposes cutting corporate income taxes
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed cutting the state's corporate income tax from 7.1 percent to 6.5 percent in the coming year and eliminating it altogether for upstate manufacturers.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | Corporate Tax Reform: Issues for Congress
Interest in corporate tax reform that lowers the rate and broadens the base has developed in the past several years. Some discussions by economists in opinion pieces have suggested there is an urgent need to lower the corporate tax rate, but not necessarily to broaden the tax base, an approach that presents some difficulties given current budget pressures. Others see the corporate tax as a potential source of revenue.
Blogs
WSJ | Taxes That Compound In Ever Upward Spiral
While your Dec. 30 editorial "A Large New Tax on Small Business" covers part of the effect the premium tax on insurers will have on small businesses, the compounding effect of a tax on a tax on a tax deserves mention.
WSJ | Cuomo proposes cutting corporate income taxes
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed cutting the state's corporate income tax from 7.1 percent to 6.5 percent in the coming year and eliminating it altogether for upstate manufacturers.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | Corporate Tax Reform: Issues for Congress
Interest in corporate tax reform that lowers the rate and broadens the base has developed in the past several years. Some discussions by economists in opinion pieces have suggested there is an urgent need to lower the corporate tax rate, but not necessarily to broaden the tax base, an approach that presents some difficulties given current budget pressures. Others see the corporate tax as a potential source of revenue.
Blogs
WSJ | Taxes That Compound In Ever Upward Spiral
While your Dec. 30 editorial "A Large New Tax on Small Business" covers part of the effect the premium tax on insurers will have on small businesses, the compounding effect of a tax on a tax on a tax deserves mention.
Employment
News
Quartz | Just a reminder: The US still has ludicrously high long-term unemployment
Since the Department of Labor began keeping track in 1948, the US has rarely had more than two million workers go without a job for more than six months. At the height of the recent Great Recession, nearly seven million people who wanted jobs faced extended joblessness, and today that number sits at a cool 4 million.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | Relief of the jobless
President Obama returned Sunday from his 16-day Hawaiian vacation to a capital in the grip of a “polar vortex.” On Saturday, before saying “aloha” to the Kailua vacation house he rented for $56,000, he wanted to show himself as a man of the people, many of whom became unemployed under his economy.
NY Post | Jobs report: The good, the bad & the schizo
Later this week the government should announce good jobs growth for the month of December. But that will be followed four weeks later by a report that will likely show very bad job growth in January.
AEI | Infographic: 14 ways to help the unemployed get back to work
The labor market remains badly damaged from the Great Recession. In November 2013, the labor force participation rate was 63 percent, the lowest since 1978 when Jimmy Carter was president. Most tragically, more than 4 million American workers have been unemployed for six months or longer. AEI's Michael Strain makes the following recommendations to get the labor market moving again.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Extending Unemployment Benefits Could Lead to Fewer Americans Finding Jobs Quickly
Sure, liberals are touting the three-month extension (which isn’t offset by spending cuts elsewhere, despite its hefty $6.5 billion price tag) as an act of compassion for struggling unemployed Americans. But the data shows a different picture: Give people unemployment benefits, and it’s likely they will take longer to find employment.
Quartz | Just a reminder: The US still has ludicrously high long-term unemployment
Since the Department of Labor began keeping track in 1948, the US has rarely had more than two million workers go without a job for more than six months. At the height of the recent Great Recession, nearly seven million people who wanted jobs faced extended joblessness, and today that number sits at a cool 4 million.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | Relief of the jobless
President Obama returned Sunday from his 16-day Hawaiian vacation to a capital in the grip of a “polar vortex.” On Saturday, before saying “aloha” to the Kailua vacation house he rented for $56,000, he wanted to show himself as a man of the people, many of whom became unemployed under his economy.
NY Post | Jobs report: The good, the bad & the schizo
Later this week the government should announce good jobs growth for the month of December. But that will be followed four weeks later by a report that will likely show very bad job growth in January.
AEI | Infographic: 14 ways to help the unemployed get back to work
The labor market remains badly damaged from the Great Recession. In November 2013, the labor force participation rate was 63 percent, the lowest since 1978 when Jimmy Carter was president. Most tragically, more than 4 million American workers have been unemployed for six months or longer. AEI's Michael Strain makes the following recommendations to get the labor market moving again.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Extending Unemployment Benefits Could Lead to Fewer Americans Finding Jobs Quickly
Sure, liberals are touting the three-month extension (which isn’t offset by spending cuts elsewhere, despite its hefty $6.5 billion price tag) as an act of compassion for struggling unemployed Americans. But the data shows a different picture: Give people unemployment benefits, and it’s likely they will take longer to find employment.
Budget
News
National Journal | As Appropriations Deadline Looms, Both Chambers Take Up Messaging Bills
As Congress returns this week from its holiday hibernation, Senate Democrats and House Republicans will open up the action with bills in their respective chambers that will play well to their political bases.
National Journal | As Appropriations Deadline Looms, Both Chambers Take Up Messaging Bills
As Congress returns this week from its holiday hibernation, Senate Democrats and House Republicans will open up the action with bills in their respective chambers that will play well to their political bases.
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